Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship Rotations

Ultrasound rotation: Antenatal Diagnostic Unit (3 months/year)

During this monthly rotation, each fellow will experience supervised performance of antenatal diagnostic ultrasound examinations and procedures in the UMMC Antenatal Diagnostic Unit and the Mirror Lake Specialty Clinic. The fellow will also be trained to properly perform fetal echocardiography in addition to multiple perinatal invasive procedures. At the conclusion of fellowship, each individual fellow will have extensive experience with ultrasound.

Inpatient service rotation (3 months/year)

During this rotation, the fellow is responsible for the care and management of patients on a busy and complex antepartum service that provides the fellow with exposure to a myriad of disease processes. The fellow will be working closely with residents during this rotation, providing them with invaluable teaching opportunities.

In addition to the antepartum service, the service fellow will be assisting MFM staff in our fetal surgical center. Responsibilities in this area include performing ultrasounds and formulating plans of care for patients whose pregnancies are complicated by fetal anomalies.

The fellow will also be responsible for coverage of a private, outpatient MFM clinic one-half day per week. This clinic opportunity provides the fellow with experience functioning as a partner with two other staff members. Additional responsibilities may include consults on labor and delivery and assisting staff and residents in the obstetrical operating room.

Research rotation (6 months/year)

During this dedicated research time, the fellow will spend approximately three days per week working on research activities which are located on campus. The fellow will become acquainted with a number of laboratory techniques, including small animal surgery, protein isolation, real-time PCR, chemiluminescence and cell culturing.

Recent award-winning research from this lab has yielded multiple oral presentations for our fellows at national meetings. In addition to the awards and presentations, fellows will have acquired enough material to complete their master's degree and defend their thesis by the end of the second year.

One and a half days per week will be dedicated to development and management of clinical research. Additionally, this rotation affords participants hands-on experience with grant writing, protocol conception and research design. These abundant research opportunities allow easy fulfillment of two of our educational objectives: To have presented a first-authored project in poster or oral format at a national meeting; and acceptance for publication of a first-authored paper in a major national peer-reviewed professional journal during fellowship or in the first year post-fellowship.

Clinical skills will continued to be utilized during the research rotation while supervising residents and implementing plans on patients that are evaluated in our residents' OB high risk clinic.